you can quote me; i said "NEAR / NEARLY" impossible. it would be easier on code 100 vs. 83/70/55. it would be nice to see a full article on your abilities to make turnouts from scratch. i'm sure they look very realistic.
gregcWith this in mind, why not only remove the inside base flange of the stock rail, leaving the head untouched. And while continuing to remove the outside half of the point rail, also remove the head of the points near the tip so that they fit against the web and underneath the inside flange of the head of the stock rail. The stock rails will not be deformed and with the points fitting inside the stock rail, should provide a smoother transition.
With this in mind, why not only remove the inside base flange of the stock rail, leaving the head untouched. And while continuing to remove the outside half of the point rail, also remove the head of the points near the tip so that they fit against the web and underneath the inside flange of the head of the stock rail. The stock rails will not be deformed and with the points fitting inside the stock rail, should provide a smoother transition.
That's what I do!
This is my latest HowTo turnouts.
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
I built several switches back in the mid 80's for the layout while working on my MMR. The switches I built were a little different but the stock rails were notched. 11 out of the 12 I built are still in place on the layout and working just fine. The 12th one was accidently damaged during some scenery work and was removed and replaced with a factory switch. So I would recommend the notching also. They just don't seem to ever give me trouble.
Bob
Please show us some pictures, preferably close up, detailed pictures of this method. I'm sure we'd all like to see how this method works.
Wazzzy Prototype switches do not have the stock rails notched or modified. they are normal rails. However, real railroads have the points shaped to fit inside the stock rails, along with extra bracing, for a snug and smooth fit to allow proper operation of the switch. These techniques are near impossible with the small rail we use for modeling. I work as a condutor for NS and have thrown many a switches in my time. As a modeler, not everything in the real world can be scaled down and perform as well. Notching the base rail and filing the points correctly will give the best operation and still represent the real 1:1 switch.
Prototype switches do not have the stock rails notched or modified. they are normal rails. However, real railroads have the points shaped to fit inside the stock rails, along with extra bracing, for a snug and smooth fit to allow proper operation of the switch.
These techniques are near impossible with the small rail we use for modeling.
I work as a condutor for NS and have thrown many a switches in my time. As a modeler, not everything in the real world can be scaled down and perform as well. Notching the base rail and filing the points correctly will give the best operation and still represent the real 1:1 switch.
I respectfully beg to differ.
I have been using totally unmodified stock rails on hand-laid turnouts ever since I took a good, hard look at the prototype several decades ago. I do most of my point tapering on the wheel side of the point, just removing railhead overhang toward the sharp end on the stock rail side, where it might weaken the web to leave it on. I also take off several thousandths of the head height, undercut the rail base and round the point end (rather like a butter knife.) The result is a point that will slide up on the base of the stock rail, has plenty of mechanical strength and (to my eye, at least) looks right. It's also a lot sharper than a butter knife - running fingers into the point end of a turnout is NOT recommended.
My points are pivoted by soldering the heels to wire nails, which go down through ties and roadbed clear to the plywood subgrade in a pre-drilled hole of appropriate size. The throw bar connection is a piece of brass wire soldered low on the point, then bent to fit into a hole in the non-conductive PCB throwbar. The point (only) is powered by contact with the stock rail, and an open point is electrically dead. (Look, Ma, no flange-back short circuits!)
If this seems to contradict the (newly edited) second paragraph of the quoted post, while validating the first paragraph, so be it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with all hand-laid specialwork)
prototype switches do not have the stock rails notched or modified. they are normal rails. however, real railroads have the points shaped to fit inside the stock rails, along with extra bracing, for a snug and smooth fit to allow proper operation of the switch. these techniques are near impossible with the small rail we use for modeling.
i work as a condutor for NS and have throwm many a switches in my time. as a modeler, not everything in the real world can be scaled down and perform as well. notching the base rail and filing the points correctly will give the best operation and still represent the real 1:1 switch.
I haven't had the opportunity to get close to any prototype turnouts lately, so I can't quite remember whether I've seen the stock rails cut in as mentioned, But I have a collection of HO switches that are set up both ways. I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall the notched stock rails seemed to have fewer derailments.
The Fast Tracks method demonstrated in a video I received when I purchased the kits for straight #8's and #6 double-slips stated that both the stock rail and the points rails needed to have their bases reduced in order to fit them against one another so as not to get a picked point even 1% of the time.
The idea is to make the points ride up on what little solder there may be showing, but certainly on the copper cladding of the PCB ties so that the tie/solder acts like a bearing and so that the points lie tight and sharply against the stock rail's inner flange face. And so they seem to work.
-Crandell
I have read a copy of Tony Koester's article on hand laid turnouts and have seen a video on the same topic. In both he said it is easy, and he suggests that turnouts aren't that critical.
Some terminology: a rail has a base that sits on the ties, a web the rises vertically from the base, and a head that sits on top of the web. Both the head and base have flanges that extend horizontally past the web. The outside rails of the turnout are the stock rails. The points are the inside rails that alternately rest against one stock rail to divert the wheels.
Tony (and others) says to remove the inside flanges of both the head and base of the stock rail where the points fit against it. And he says to file away the outside half of the rail to make the points, even filing the web thin near the end of the points. This unfortunately deforms the stock rail and doesn't look prototypical as the picture below shows. The prototype points look shorter and are raised, designed to fit between the base and head flanges of the stock rails which are just normal rail.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading